The man the U.S. alleges is the top al-Qaida operative who orchestrated the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania pleaded not guilty to the charges on Tuesday at a Federal Court in Manhattan.

House Speaker John Boehner said Tuesday that Republican leaders were "trying to find a way forward" in the partisan impasse over the partial government shutdown and debt ceiling, but gave no specifics of a reported counter-proposal to an emerging Senate plan.